HERAT - Contradictory accounts of dead and injured from Afghan and Western
forces and eyewitnesses have left a confused picture of an American military
supply drop that appears to have gone disastrously wrong.
Up to 25 United States and Afghan military personnel, and perhaps as many as 14
civilians, were reportedly killed or injured in the incident in Bala Murghab
district, an insurgent-riddled area in the northwestern corner of Badghis
province on the border with Turkmenistan, this month.
A supply drop by the US military on November 4 intended for troops in the field
landed in the Murghab River, a fast-moving and treacherous body of water, and
the soldiers tried to retrieve it. According to the International Security
Assistance Force, ISAF, two paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division were
missing
after the airdrop and a search was launched for them.
Local eyewitnesses said that five men went into the water and only one came out
alive. They said the bodies of two were retrieved, but two went missing.
"I don't have confirmation of others involved," said Lieutenant-Colonel Todd
Vician of the ISAF Joint Command media office.
Initially, the Taliban claimed to be holding two bodies, but later reports
quoted the insurgents' spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, as denying that this was
the case.
According to locals, things went badly wrong in the course of the search for
the bodies.
Residents of Takht-e-Bazaar in Bala Murghab district say a helicopter
containing US commandos along with Afghan soldiers landed in their area on
November 6. According to eyewitnesses, the commandos began shooting
indiscriminately as soon as they left the aircraft.
"They did not stop to see who is civilian, who is Talib, who is armed, who is a
government employee," said Haji Mohammad Ismail, a tribal elder in
Takht-e-Bazaar. "They were so angry, so wild that they even shot at Afghan
military forces."
The civilians caught in the crossfire included an old man and his son, said
Abdul Satar, 42, a shopkeeper who said the two men were his uncle and cousin.
"My uncle was a sick man, he could hardly move," said Abdul Satar, shaking with
anger. "Those tyrant Americans shot him and his son. I am not going to forget
this crime as long as I live. They were just shopkeepers, they were not
Taliban. They had no connections with any group."
According to General Jalandarshah Behnam, commander of the 207th Zafar Corps in
western Afghanistan, the search operation was conducted jointly by US special
forces and one of his commando battalions, who subsequently fell victim to
friendly fire.
"A number of Afghan and foreign troops were looking for the missing soldiers
that were drowned some days ago in the Murghab River," he said. "They
mistakenly came under air attack by US forces."
According to General Behnam, seven US soldiers died in the air strike, along
with two Afghan National Army soldiers and three Afghan National Police. An
Afghan translator was also killed, he added. In addition, 12 ANA soldiers and
one policeman were injured, and the condition of several of them was critical.
Residents of Takht-e-Bazaar say the air strike also killed up to 14 civilians
while destroying eight residential compounds.
"I can tell you the exact neighborhoods where the bombs landed," said Haji
Ismail. "Post-e-Dahana, Khasa, Rood-e-Poyin and Taraaz. At least 10 civilians
died, and more may still die of their injuries. I have attended funerals."
The general did not give any information on civilian casualties.
Major Abdul Jabar, the deputy chief of police in Badghis, confirmed Behnam's
figures for US and Afghan personnel killed.
But ISAF gives different numbers. "No US service members were killed in the
operation," said Vician. "Five were wounded, as our press release states."
The ISAF statement also listed seven Afghan security forces killed - four
soldiers and three police. ISAF said that 15 soldiers and two police were
wounded, while one Afghan civilian working with the Afghan army was killed and
another wounded.
According to Vician, ISAF was investigating the possibility that the military
personnel were killed by friendly fire.
"We are still looking into reports of civilian casualties," Vician said.
"Unfortunately, this operation is ongoing and we are limited to information we
can provide to the public."
The issue of civilian casualties is an explosive one in Afghanistan, where
numerous incidents over the past eight years have inflamed public opinion
against the foreign military presence, provoked demonstrations, and made the
recruiting task of the Taliban easier.
General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan and the head of
ISAF troops, has called for a revamped strategy that will emphasize the
protection of civilians.
"The greatest risk we can accept is to lose the support of the people here,"
McChrystal told CBS's 60 Minutes program in September. "If the people
view us as occupiers and the enemy, we can't be successful."
But even in the few months since this new strategy was articulated, several
incidents have provoked Afghan anger against the foreign military. An air
strike called in by German forces in Kunduz in September killed up to 70
civilians; residents in Helmand say that nine insurgents targeted by an ISAF
rocket on November 4 were, in fact, a family of farmers. British forces say
they were planting a bomb.
Bala Murghab is about 50% insurgent-controlled, residents say, and clashes are
not infrequent. In July, the central government signed a ceasefire agreement
with the Taliban in Badghis, but it has not held completely.
Much remains unclear about the Bala Murghab incident - the exact numbers of
casualties, whether insurgents were involved and what provoked the air strike.
But for the residents who have lost family members and homes, the reality is
stark enough.
"Many people have been displaced," said Abdul Shukur, the mayor of Bala
Murghab. "Their homes have been destroyed and they are camping out up in the
mountains."
Mustafa Saber is an IWPR-trained journalist based in Herat.
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Residents of Takht-e-Bazaar in Bala Murghab district say a helicopter
containing US commandos along with Afghan soldiers landed in their area on
November 6. According to eyewitnesses, the commandos began shooting
indiscriminately as soon as they left the aircraft.
